Mr. Leupin was a prolific Swiss graphic artist and designer. Over the course of his sixty year career Leupin created thousands of iconic and spirited posters. What I appreciate is the charm and wit that he brings to Swiss precision. He kept it light-hearted. His Salem posters might just make one break their resolution! Happy New Years everyone!

I was pleasantly surprised at this little discovery, to add to my ever expanding library of digital tear-sheets. Comp Fight, in a nutshell, is an image search tool guaranteed to change your life. It prowls flickr and displays your search results in an orderly fashion eliminating a few layers of clicking :) Worth a look to kick start the creative juice flow for 2011. Happy roaming!

With all the bad press the snow has been getting recently, I thought it would be nice to post something that reminds us how beautiful it can be. Photographer Vidar Olufsen has captured some truly stunning winter moments. Check them out.

Ken Garland is a designer who never ceases to amaze me. Having authored the original First Things First manifesto, Mr. Garland has never been one to hold a “traditional” vision of design. The man is truly prolific. I recently discovered his photographic work and am again amazed by his sensibilities. As of late, the designer has been very active about sharing his photography through a nine-part series under the theme of “a closer look at”. These A6 books are available for purchase for those in the UK through Pudkin books, (see instructions below).

For those of you in Paris, or happen to be in town, mark next Thursday, the 16th of December. Stefan Sagmeister will participate in a debate/conference at the Centre Georges Pompidou. He will speak about the “job” of the designer and how graphic design can bring happiness to the masses. He will also be sharing some recent work, (check the updates on his site as well). This event is free and starts a 7pm. More info on the Centre Pompidou’s website!

Despite the current exhibition ‘Plain Space’ at London’s Design Museum having already received considerable coverage (we are now 2 months into it after all), I thought it only right that the über modernist and inflexible perfectionist, British architect John Pawson get a brief mention this week here on GraphicHug (who’s eldest son managed the 2010 Mercury Prize-winning band, The XX). In conversation with Alain de Botton, cultural commentator and philosopher, Pawson speaks about the exhibition, previous projects and his minimalist approach.

After being instrumental in the closure of the family clothing business after school, John Pawson dabbled in Zen Buddhism before moving into his self-education to become an architect. It wasn’t until the mid 1990’s (when John was already making steady progress along his chosen career path) that he landed his first big break from Calvin Klein, and subsequently ended up designing the Calvin Klein store in New York in 1995.

Of course, the whole polish graphic design thing is one of those fascinating curios in an american history of graphic design class because you ooooh and ahhhhh and start losing your shit over this fantastically graphic work which doesn’t feel obligated to use such oft-abused tropes such as photography or overtly visual semblance to the literal content of the subject at hand.

For Jean-Luc Godard’s 80th birthday, a La Hague based graphic design studio called Atelier Carvalho Bernau designed a nice typeface and they are releasing this typeface as a free download: We were always in love with the title sequence lettering to Godard’s movies “Made in U.S.A.” and “2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle”. On the ocasion of Godard’s 80th birthday (3 December 2010), we are releasing this typeface as a free download. It is our hommage to Jean-Luc, to the Nouvelle Vague, to Seberg, Karina, Faithfull & Cie., and a birthday gift for all “enfants de Marx et de Coca-Cola.We were always in love with the title sequence lettering to Godard’s movies “Made in U.S.A.” and “2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle”. On the ocasion of Godard’s 80th birthday (3 December 2010), we are releasing this typeface as a free download. It is our hommage to Jean-Luc, to the Nouvelle Vague, to Seberg, Karina, Faithfull & Cie., and a birthday gift for all “enfants de Marx et de Coca-Cola.”